By Jaive Smare
Source: www.myamazingparadise.com
Link: http://www.myamazingparadise.com/?p=208&lang=en-us
(Continued from previous post, the Panguna Mine Experience Part1)
Before the crisis, the Panguna town supported 3,500 people, married and single that worked at the mine.
Facilities included supermarkets, post office, banks, schools, medical center, chemist, schools, cinemas, gymnasium and sports equipments, taverns and more.
Staff was housed in either the married quarters or the single quarters depending on their status. Zhon told me how when he was younger, they would all visit the cinema to watch the latest movies from Hollywood and come down to watch sports games under lights.
He said many of the workers had motorbikes parked outside the apartments and when they passed, they could lots of rock and heavy metal music being played on speakers.
He said the place was always filled with people.
But all that is just a memory now.
Panguna is very quite place now with a lot of large ruined buildings and two lane paved roads with no cars and hardly any foot traffic.
But it is not a silent place. You can hear the sound of nails being hammered and timber being sewn and the chatter of local kids as they cycle up and down the wide streets of this town.
The late Francis Ona’s Mekamui Government organization and the Autonomous Bougainville Government have entered into a partnership to bring back services to the area at the center of the Bougainville conflict.
The ABG offices including health facilities are housed in one of the old, destroyed apartment blocks.
They have reclaimed the building and built officeson top as well as a clinic on the bottom floor.
At Panguna you can hear the sound of hammering all through out the day as the locals turn the ruins in accommodation for their families.
The structure of these buildings are still pretty solid with sewerage lines and pipes still intact, they are just missing roofs and walls.
There is even a transit house up built on two levels of one of the accommodation buildings where visitors can stay.
The rate is K30 for Nationals and $50 dollars (any currency) for expatriates.
The transit house is run by Philip Takaung an ex-militant and a member of the Mekamui Organization.
There are three stores here, including Panguna’s own Stop and Shop, Jared’s ‘Custom’ Store and Chris Tarusis’s Trade store.
Chris also has a great little coffee shop as well.
The stores are all built on the foundations of all buildings that were destroyed in the conflict.
Where Chris’s Tuckerbox is located was the old Court House and I think Jared’s Custom store must have been some sort of Government office.
After having a chat with Chris, we wandered up into the hills to get a good view of the giant Panguna mine.
Before we got to the mine, we wandered through the streets, passed the old gymnasiums and messes, past the giant Panguna swimming pool and the sports fields with stadium lights that don’t work anymore.
We climbed up the hill to get a good look at the Panguna Mine.
It was such an awesome experience seeing it.
Its massive hole in the ground where once there was a mountain and small flat plain I was told. I could see water cascading down the sides into the pit floor where the water emptied out through the drainage at the bottom that leads to the Jaba River.
There were sky-blue ponds in the pit and slopes, no doubt caused by the copper in the water exposed to air.
Old giant mining trucks were eerily still, silent and rusting in one long line in the distance.
Drill machines and giant BCL electric excavators could also be seen lying idle on the ridges, rusty relics that hint at a past that was full of activity.
Surrounding the mine was thick jungle upon which a blue haze seemed to permanently linger over.
I would probably count this as one of the most amazing moments of my life.
We returned back to Panguna town and had a chat with Chris and the some of the others before Zhon caught the bus back and I stayed back for the night.
I wanted to stay at the guesthouse, but the wife of the local man responsible for education here insisted I should stay with them at their place so the old man and I could chat.
It turned out to be a good decision. Patrick ITA is the Panguna District Education Officer responsible for roll out of education services here.
Panguna, during the crisis did not have any schools etc so many youths here cannot read and write. With peace comes the opportunity for education, which Patrick, a teacher and a former BCL trainer, believes is important for Panguna.
Patrick is an interesting man, a musical man – whose life and the lives of his family are intertwined with the past and the future of Panguna, just like everyone else in Panguna.
Patrick and his wife, some of his children and extended family live in a really nice residence in one of the disused ‘destroyed’ buildings. The walls are thatched and it has like an open-air lounge with a great view of Panguna.
It even has proper toilets. The buildings sewerage system and pipes are still in place so they just connected a toilet bowl with flushing system for modernconvenience.
I chatted with Patrick for most of the day and into the night. He played the Dominic, a musical number on his accordion for me, to the delight of the young kids in the area who came to watch him play. I made a video which I will share later.
After dinner I left him and headed down to see Chris Taurusiat his coffee shop. Chris is an interesting character, full of humor and insight, a former fighter with shrapnel still stuck inside one of his legs… but more on him in a later post.
Later that night, I head back up the stairs to Patrick’s place. The place was cold and refreshing, the perfect climate for any wearing traveler to rest in.
I sat down on the edge of his lounge looking out into the darkness as one of his sons played awesome solo renditions on guitar on the floor just below me.
I sat there thinking this has been such an experience; there was so much music and color here, so much hope for the future, so much laughter.
I kept thinking that every Papua New Guinean, every young Papua New Guinean should make the journey out here. They should make the pilgrimage to Bougainville, to Buka, to Arawa, to Panguna to learn and be humbled. Cause we never fought for Independence it was handed to us. Here, in this community, is the spirit of survivors starting again. Not sure if it’s the are heading the right way or the wrong way, but in Patrick Ita’s words they must move ‘always in forward gear.’
The next day, I rose early in the morning, had a breakfast of fresh ripe Panguna bananas before having a chat with Jared about his ‘Custom Store’ and Patrick Takaung about his transit house.
More on both in later posts, but Jared is interesting because he acts like a middleman, he buys items such as baskets and other traditional items from the Panguna locals which he sells in his store making a small income. That’s why it’s called the custom store.
After taking more pictures, especially of the people, I hopped into a PMV that pulled up and head back to Arawa.
My adventure of a lifetime was over. But not the lessons learnt.
Enjoy these images.
If you would like to visit Panguna and stay at the transit house, give Zhon Bosco a call or email him. This is his contacts.
Phone: +675 71626393 /+675 76263583 or email info@bougtours.com.
Zhon gave me a lot of help getting to Panguna and he is the contact for many of the persons I spoke to and those who helped me.
If you have any memories or thoughts on Panguna, please share.
Related posts:
Source: www.myamazingparadise.com
Link: http://www.myamazingparadise.com/?p=208&lang=en-us
(Continued from previous post, the Panguna Mine Experience Part1)
- Young Nelson & Bosco looking over Panguna Mine. More pics at the end of this post.
Facilities included supermarkets, post office, banks, schools, medical center, chemist, schools, cinemas, gymnasium and sports equipments, taverns and more.
Staff was housed in either the married quarters or the single quarters depending on their status. Zhon told me how when he was younger, they would all visit the cinema to watch the latest movies from Hollywood and come down to watch sports games under lights.
He said many of the workers had motorbikes parked outside the apartments and when they passed, they could lots of rock and heavy metal music being played on speakers.
He said the place was always filled with people.
But all that is just a memory now.
Panguna is very quite place now with a lot of large ruined buildings and two lane paved roads with no cars and hardly any foot traffic.
But it is not a silent place. You can hear the sound of nails being hammered and timber being sewn and the chatter of local kids as they cycle up and down the wide streets of this town.
The late Francis Ona’s Mekamui Government organization and the Autonomous Bougainville Government have entered into a partnership to bring back services to the area at the center of the Bougainville conflict.
The ABG offices including health facilities are housed in one of the old, destroyed apartment blocks.
They have reclaimed the building and built officeson top as well as a clinic on the bottom floor.
At Panguna you can hear the sound of hammering all through out the day as the locals turn the ruins in accommodation for their families.
The structure of these buildings are still pretty solid with sewerage lines and pipes still intact, they are just missing roofs and walls.
There is even a transit house up built on two levels of one of the accommodation buildings where visitors can stay.
The rate is K30 for Nationals and $50 dollars (any currency) for expatriates.
The transit house is run by Philip Takaung an ex-militant and a member of the Mekamui Organization.
There are three stores here, including Panguna’s own Stop and Shop, Jared’s ‘Custom’ Store and Chris Tarusis’s Trade store.
Chris also has a great little coffee shop as well.
The stores are all built on the foundations of all buildings that were destroyed in the conflict.
Where Chris’s Tuckerbox is located was the old Court House and I think Jared’s Custom store must have been some sort of Government office.
After having a chat with Chris, we wandered up into the hills to get a good view of the giant Panguna mine.
Before we got to the mine, we wandered through the streets, passed the old gymnasiums and messes, past the giant Panguna swimming pool and the sports fields with stadium lights that don’t work anymore.
We climbed up the hill to get a good look at the Panguna Mine.
It was such an awesome experience seeing it.
Its massive hole in the ground where once there was a mountain and small flat plain I was told. I could see water cascading down the sides into the pit floor where the water emptied out through the drainage at the bottom that leads to the Jaba River.
There were sky-blue ponds in the pit and slopes, no doubt caused by the copper in the water exposed to air.
Old giant mining trucks were eerily still, silent and rusting in one long line in the distance.
Drill machines and giant BCL electric excavators could also be seen lying idle on the ridges, rusty relics that hint at a past that was full of activity.
Surrounding the mine was thick jungle upon which a blue haze seemed to permanently linger over.
I would probably count this as one of the most amazing moments of my life.
We returned back to Panguna town and had a chat with Chris and the some of the others before Zhon caught the bus back and I stayed back for the night.
I wanted to stay at the guesthouse, but the wife of the local man responsible for education here insisted I should stay with them at their place so the old man and I could chat.
It turned out to be a good decision. Patrick ITA is the Panguna District Education Officer responsible for roll out of education services here.
Panguna, during the crisis did not have any schools etc so many youths here cannot read and write. With peace comes the opportunity for education, which Patrick, a teacher and a former BCL trainer, believes is important for Panguna.
Patrick is an interesting man, a musical man – whose life and the lives of his family are intertwined with the past and the future of Panguna, just like everyone else in Panguna.
Patrick and his wife, some of his children and extended family live in a really nice residence in one of the disused ‘destroyed’ buildings. The walls are thatched and it has like an open-air lounge with a great view of Panguna.
It even has proper toilets. The buildings sewerage system and pipes are still in place so they just connected a toilet bowl with flushing system for modernconvenience.
I chatted with Patrick for most of the day and into the night. He played the Dominic, a musical number on his accordion for me, to the delight of the young kids in the area who came to watch him play. I made a video which I will share later.
After dinner I left him and headed down to see Chris Taurusiat his coffee shop. Chris is an interesting character, full of humor and insight, a former fighter with shrapnel still stuck inside one of his legs… but more on him in a later post.
Later that night, I head back up the stairs to Patrick’s place. The place was cold and refreshing, the perfect climate for any wearing traveler to rest in.
I sat down on the edge of his lounge looking out into the darkness as one of his sons played awesome solo renditions on guitar on the floor just below me.
I sat there thinking this has been such an experience; there was so much music and color here, so much hope for the future, so much laughter.
I kept thinking that every Papua New Guinean, every young Papua New Guinean should make the journey out here. They should make the pilgrimage to Bougainville, to Buka, to Arawa, to Panguna to learn and be humbled. Cause we never fought for Independence it was handed to us. Here, in this community, is the spirit of survivors starting again. Not sure if it’s the are heading the right way or the wrong way, but in Patrick Ita’s words they must move ‘always in forward gear.’
The next day, I rose early in the morning, had a breakfast of fresh ripe Panguna bananas before having a chat with Jared about his ‘Custom Store’ and Patrick Takaung about his transit house.
More on both in later posts, but Jared is interesting because he acts like a middleman, he buys items such as baskets and other traditional items from the Panguna locals which he sells in his store making a small income. That’s why it’s called the custom store.
After taking more pictures, especially of the people, I hopped into a PMV that pulled up and head back to Arawa.
My adventure of a lifetime was over. But not the lessons learnt.
Enjoy these images.
Early Morning Waiting for the Bus
Workon one of the 'rooms' on the disused BCL quarters
Patrick Ita, having breakfast in his open air lounge with an awesome view
Three Panguna Kids enjoying the peaceful morning here
Panguna Guitar Player - this kid could seriously play
Panguna Town
On top of one of the disused BCL Quarters. Despite now walls and roof etc, still in good condition
Old BCL residence. Single quarters I think.
Young Nelson & Bosco looking over Panguna Mine
Panguna Town, share your thoughts
Panguna Swimming Pool. There were a lot of races here.
Panguna Pool Change Rooms, toilets...all destroyed.
burnt down gymnasium (i think) or school for Panguna town
Panguna Town Sports Field...with no lights
Panguna Town Gym...burnt
Former Panguna Police Quarters
Young man shows me how to play the pipes i just bought
Young Panguna girl panning for gold. Theres gold everywhere here.
Patrick Plays the 'Dominic' on his accordion.
ABG Panguna District Office. Patrick's office is on the 2nd floor and Panguna Medical center is on the bottom floor.
Nurse and Patient at the Panguna Medical center
Patrick Ita, Panguna District Education Officer in his Office at Panguna
Water drainage. Familiar to many who have been to Panguna
High spirited Panguna women heading home
Chris's Trade Store at Panguna
Jared at his 'Custom' Store with bags
Panguna Picture
Panguna Girls Say Goodbye!!!
Phone: +675 71626393 /+675 76263583 or email info@bougtours.com.
Zhon gave me a lot of help getting to Panguna and he is the contact for many of the persons I spoke to and those who helped me.
If you have any memories or thoughts on Panguna, please share.
Related posts:
Thanks heaps mate.
……………………………………
Hi mate,
Mate, thank you so much for your wonderful reporting in the P/C Weekend Courier (23/12/10) of Bougainville Copper mining town and mine site of Panguna. A lot of us matured both physically and intellectually through the years that preceded the forced closure of BCL in 1990.
Mate, there is no place like the Panguna-Arawa-Loloho mining townships. We used to fondly call BCL the “School of Hard Knocks” in those days when PNG universities have not yet introduced Mine Engineering and Mineral Processing degrees.
Pacing through your commentary was quite emotional and home-sickish for me. Your photo portraying the flight of concrete stairs to the Mine Training College (MTC) entrance was surreal and enthralling. The Bougainville Copper MTC brought back fond memories of elite training of miners, operators, maintenance trades and managers who have and are contributing to latter mines now in operation nationwide. Coincidentally, Patrick Itta, your hospitable host at Panguna also a wonderful friend of mine, taught line management courses at the MTC. Patrick was a marvellous keyboard player whom by your account has apparently transferred that wonderful talent to the accordion – much more appropriate for the bush. I met up with Patrick’s eldest daughter in 2005 at Highlands Kainantu Gold Mine. Trough her, I was glad to learn her gentle gentleman ex-Semenarian father was still alive unlike a lot of Bougainvillean aquaintances who have sadly lost their lives during the crisis.
In the 70′s and the 80′s, Bougainville Copper used to be classed as the world’s second biggest open-cut copper mine. The desolate roofless photo of BCL’s MTC – this once-great mine training icon; plus a photo of skeletal remains of the Secondary Crusher complex, touch cords of longing and belonging even 20 years on. A 150,000 tonnes of rock throughput used to be crushed in this monstrous crushing complex in one day. This size of production has not been superseded yet in PNG. Even the combined tonnage of ore processed in one day by Porgera, Barrick Kainantu, Lihir Newmont, Tolukuma, Simberi and Hidden Valley JV gold mines fall short of BCL’s ore throughput of 25 years ago. The only mine today whose tonnage of ore production falls close to BCL is the Ok Tedi mine which processes about half what BCL used to produce in its heyday.
In terms of annual revenue at today’s metal price, BCL would have been making more than K5 billion per annum.
No Jaive my friend. I’d love to return to the Panguna mine site and document the desolation of the mining towns, the port, the Loloho beach side resort and the rejuvenated Jaba River and the Prince Augusta Delta. Just as you have reported; but with a different twist: describing the localities in a “before” and “after” context for your readers who have been-there-done-that and for them to really identify with.
Thanks and Wuro, mate.
Michael Kiap
Tabubil
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Digicel Pacific